Do Your Players Shoot Free Throws in Practice the Way They Shoot Them in Games?

https://teachhoops.com/

Pressure, fatigue, and a routine that holds up when the gym gets loud.

Coach Steve Collins once had a team that shot seventy six percent from the line in practice and fifty eight percent in games. The players were not the problem. The practice was. Ten in a row, fresh legs, a quiet gym, and nobody watching had trained a skill his players would never actually use on a Friday night.

In this deep dive, Steve rebuilds free throw practice from the ground up for the opening weeks of the season. He explains why the only free throws worth counting are the tired ones, why the first shot is the one that matters, how to build a routine short enough to survive an icing timeout, and how to bring real pressure into the gym without turning it into fear. He closes with the story of a point guard, an early career loss by one, and the lesson Steve took from it.

Part 1: Making Practice Look Like the Game

• The seventy six to fifty eight percent gap, and why it is a practice problem, not a shooting problem
• Shooting free throws right after your hardest segment, with no rest and no water
• Why honest numbers are the only numbers you can coach
• One shot, then back into the drill: training the cold first free throw instead of the groove
• Tracking first shot percentage separately from everything else

Part 2: Routine and Pressure

• Why long routines fall apart after an icing timeout
• The three part routine: a breath, the same dribbles every time, and one word the player owns
• Using the routine on every single practice free throw, so it looks the same in an empty gym and a packed one
• Practicing getting iced: the fake timeout, thirty seconds on the bench, and starting the routine over
• The end of practice team free throw game, where one make sends everybody home
• Adding bench noise, towels, and loud music behind the basket
• Pressure without shame: stepping in when teammates groan, and choosing which kid gets the shot
• The point guard at the line with eight seconds left, and the lesson his coach took from it

Chapters

• 00:00 Coach Unplugged intro
• 00:16 Opening scenario: eight seconds left at the line
• 01:18 Pre roll: TeachHoops.com shooting drills and practice plans
• 01:39 Seventy six in practice, fifty eight in games
• 02:31 Takeaway 1: Shoot them tired
• 03:46 Takeaway 2: One shot, then walk away
• 05:50 Takeaway 3: A routine short enough to survive a timeout
• 07:44 Mid roll: TeachHoops.com pressure games and the coaching community
• 08:08 Takeaway 4: Put something on the line
• 09:48 The point guard, revisited
• 10:14 This week's challenge
• 10:26 Post roll: TeachHoops.com pressure free throw games

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